A Game of Dining
by MissMallora
Summary: Sansa and Sandor's relationship progresses through the ABCs of food. Drabble fic. Oneshot. Complete.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Thanks for reading. Reviews are always appreciated! Cheers. **

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_a. _Sandor takes her to a local Italian restaurant for their first date. He's flustered when their host, Jaime, makes a sly crack about it being a great place to propose, but Sansa laughs enough to make the moment pass with ease. They eat alfredo pasta, and it's creamy and rich and better than anything Sandor's ever tasted. As he licks the fork of his second helping, he sits back and wonders what it might be like to lick the dollop of sauce caught in Sansa's mouth off her skin. He'd like to find out.

_b. _When Sandor is invited for dinner at Sansa's house with her parents, he knows it's important he sets a good impression. All logic flies out the window when they serve him the first course, a dark red soup Eddard Stark calls _borscht, _which Sandor later learns is beetroot stew. It curdles in his belly and makes him unpleasant company the rest of the evening. Sansa's face is all disappointment when they part ways, and Sandor thinks perhaps it was for the best.

_c. _No one is more surprised than Sandor when Sansa stops by the office with chocolate chip cookies in tow, and a forgiving smile on her face. _Do you want to come watch reruns of the Simpsons tonight? _He's never said yes faster in his life.

_d. _He really hates the hours he works. He really hates the hours Sansa works, too. His office job keeps him late, and the school gets her up early. They make time, as so many do, when they can. Lunch, as it so happens, is the best time of the day for them. Sandor is usually waking at eleven, and Sansa finds time to step out of the classroom for an hour to take a hot cup of coffee and a piping hot danish to his house, thankfully close by. Her fingers are sticky with the sugar, and oftentimes she lets him lick them clean for her. Lunch becomes his favorite meal of the day.

_e. _Sansa is a classy lady, and Sandor's known that from the moment she came into his world, pink Prada purse in hand. The first time they make love (and it can be called nothing else), Sandor spends the night wide awake and trying to savor and memorize the feeling of holding Sansa in his arms. He only releases her when the sun comes up, and his stomach demands he eat something other than the salty juices between her legs. Eggs are a safe choice, and he fries them without even thinking of asking how she likes them. Sansa's a perfect guest, however. She wakes, dresses and eats his food with a smile on her face the whole time, and for the first time he wishes she were more than just a guest.

_f. _Finland has stolen his girlfriend. She's been visiting her cousin, a man named Jon, for two weeks now. Sansa offered to bring him along, but he's as sour and surly as ever, and the new feelings flourishing inside don't help to soothe him any. Instead he grumps and sends her off with a chaste kiss and bitter goodbyes. It's stupid, especially when she calls him hours after she lands and spends the evening telling him how she misses him, and what she would like to do to him. It's even better when she comes home, raving about _these Finnish pancakes are so good_ and how she _wants to cook them for him tomorrow_ and _when can she come over?_

_g. _Grilling has never been a pastime of his, but it soon becomes one. He's grown up on frozen meals, and Sansa's cuisine opens up a whole new world of dishes and delicacies to him. Grilled is his favorite prefix—grilled veggies, grilled chicken, grilled pineapple. And with each dish, there is Sansa to share it with.

_h. _The haddock is cooked to perfection, and the chips that accompany the fish are salted and seasoned the way he requested them. Everything has to be perfect. Across from him, Sansa is staring at him in wonder and shock. Has he totally misread her feelings? But then she leaps over the table, knocking the haddock and fries flying to the ground, and she's crying, _yes I'll marry you _as she seizes his dry-cleaned shirt and kisses him with enough passion to draw cheers from the other customers_. _The haddock isn't so important anymore.

_i. _Sansa says she doesn't like icing, but she only laughs when he shoves a handful of their wedding cake past her ruby-red lips.

_j. _Homemade jams become their hobby. Sandor likes the yardwork required for gardening, Sansa likes to prepare the fruits, and Sandor likes to eat them. All sorts of jams litter their shelves, but none more than raspberry jam.

_k._ The baby is blowing through his paycheck and it's not even born yet. Sansa cooks them Kraft Dinner for the third night that week, and Sandor eats it without complaint. When she said she wanted babies, he hadn't imagined giving up beef wellington and salmon steak in exchange for cribs and carriers.

_l. _Sandor watches her devour her third lemon square and can't help staring openly in shock. The dessert is a real treat (a gift from his in-laws) and Sansa's eating it as though she's not been fed in days. Catelyn only laughs and comments on how ravenous _she _was when she was pregnant with Sansa.

_m. _He likes watching her cook. It's nothing sexual or romantic even. Today she's making mango mousse. Her knife works the mango she's slicing with care and precision. Juices spill onto the cutting board, between her nimble fingers and the blade. It's nothing sexual; it's only simple. Sansa and Sandor and the sweetness of a ripe mango.

_n. _The first time he tries, Sansa is positively mortified. _It's not any different from before, _he argues, a hand still cupping the underside of her round breast. Sansa shakes her head, because it is different. Now, when he goes to suck on her pert nipples, to nurse them, something _will _come out other than Sansa's eager cries. She gives in when he kneads the engorged flesh for a few minutes, and when the milk does flow, it's the sweetness thing he's ever tasted.

_o. How was your day? _Long, he answers, as a babe toddles to his side to stand atop his foot. Grey eyes stare up at him, along with a toothy smile. Only a few have broken through the gums, but he's grown so much that Sandor hardly recognizes him from the hospital. When he picks up his son, the overwhelming scent of herbs assault his senses. Sansa hides a guilty smile. _He might have taken an interest in the oregano while I was gardening this afternoon. _She laughs, and Sandor laughs too, at the happy, giggling baby who smells of oregano and Sansa.

_p. _It's Robb's turn to host Christmas, and Sansa makes scalloped potatoes for her share. The potatoes are a little undercooked, but little Aidan is a handful and a half, and Sansa can't put too much strain on herself now that they suspect she's pregnant again. The family doesn't say a word about it, but Sansa is utterly crushed when she realizes the state of her dish. _Don't worry. They're much better than your sister's 'cookies'. _Sansa laughs and then scolds Sandor for his unkind, whispered words about Arya, but he doesn't give a fig about his sister in-law. Sansa is happy again.

_q. _Sandor is ready to rip his hair out, and Sansa isn't far behind. Aidan refuses to eat anything his parents offer him. Tonight it's broccoli quiche for Sansa and Sandor, and mashed potatoes, cooked green beans and halves chicken nuggets for their son. Aidan flings his food about until Sansa gives a shriek of frustration, yanks the quiche to her and cuts off a baby-sized slab small enough to fit in her palm. Aidan says nothing for the rest of the meal, other than the happy babbling sounds as he munches on his new dinner.

_r. _Your brother needs to sleep. _But why? _Because he's very young. _When will he be bigger? _Soon. _But I want to play no-o-ow. _Sandor groans and looks at Sansa, who is still recovering from the long delivery. They endured two miscarriages in between Aidan and Lucas, and the joy in having a second child is only tempered by the exhaustion of getting him there. Sansa suggests to Sandor, _why don't you take him to get some ice cream? _Aidan cheers, and Sandor orders him a large Rocky Road, which Aidan doesn't finish and hands the last of it off to his all-too-accepting father.

_s. _Sandor has never understood the need to serve sandwiches at funerals, but he does as Sansa asks and gets four large platters of sandwich trays. Aidan doesn't really understand what's going on, but Sansa brings him along because they both think it's important for him to be there. Lucas is at home with the babysitter. Sansa arrives early to help a weary and hollow-looking, widowed Catelyn Stark prepare the tables and Sansa looks like she's trying to do a million things at once when he gets there, sandwiches in tow. _We're missing a table and the Karstarks are going to be late, and Robb called to say Talisa is sick with the baby. _Sandor stops her with a gentle touch. _Little bird. _And she falls apart in his arms.

_t. _Lucas has asked for Thai food for his first day of school. Sandor isn't sure where he's had Thai before, because it certainly isn't with them, when he realizes that Aidan must have mentioned it and now Lucas thinks it's the coolest food ever. So there's Sansa, packing Lucas' Thai lunch and crying over how fast her baby has grown, and Sandor really just wants to get out the door on time for once.

_u. I don't wanna eat it. _Sandor's surprised at Lucas' objections. He's an easy-going kid, and getting him to eat has never been a problem. Sansa frowns, _don't you want to eat a piece of daddy's birthday cake?_ But Lucas tearfully shakes his head. _Aidan says it's upside down cake. I don't know how to eat upside down, momma! _And despite himself, Sandor throws his head back and laughs.

_v. _Sansa could kill her sister's longtime boyfriend. It's hunting season, and Sandor, Robb, Jon and his wife, Ygritte, and Gendry and Rickon have all gone out hunting for a week. Sandor brought home venison for dinner, and Sansa was excited until Gendry told the boys that Bambi was on the menu. Now they won't stop screaming and sobbing about how they don't want to eat Bambi, and Sandor's ready to blow a gasket. Sometimes she really hates her sister's partner.

_w. _In the end, wine brings them together again. The boys are getting older, and have their own hobbies and sports and friends to hang out with. Over the years, finding time for intimacy has been a challenge, and some nights Sansa feels like she's sleeping with a stranger. In the end, it's wine which mends that which she feared was broken (it wasn't broken; it was only hiding, just for a while). Sandor takes her face in his hands, kisses her lips and whispers, _little bird, _and between his warmth, his words and the full-bodied red wine, it's more than enough.

_x. Want me to bring anything home? _His phone lights up a few seconds later. _Xmas cookies? _He laughs to himself. Even as a full-grown woman, his wife hasn't lost the taste for sweets. Sandor grabs two packs of iced star-shaped cookies, and braves the long line to get home to his wife. She says she has a surprise for him, and he can only hope it has something to do with the bill for lingerie he found a week ago.

_y. When you said you had a surprise, I didn't think it would be anything like this, _Sandor murmurs, careful not to wake the sleeping baby in his arms. _Their _baby, their daughter. Sansa is sweaty and smiling at the pair of them, munching on yogurt-covered pretzels. Seven months ago, Sansa had handed him a positive pregnancy test. Seven hours ago, Sansa had finally given him the other half of the gift, the one Sandor didn't know he had been waiting for.

_z. _Marie's eyes are alight with excitement when Sansa tells her there's a secret ingredient to her famous spaghetti sauce. _You're old enough to know now, _Sansa informs her seriously. Sandor hides an ugly grin of his behind the newspaper. Aidan is getting ready to go to college, and Lucas is practicing football with his friends a few blocks down. Only Marie wants to be with them anymore, and Sandor knows those days are coming to a rapid end. But she's still young, and her fascination with the zucchini Sansa chops and dumps in the sauce is heart-warming. Over their daughter's head, Sansa meets Sandor's eyes and smiles radiantly. He smells the sauce cooking, and thinks back to the first time he had pasta with Sansa in a family-run restaurant, and wonders if he might be allowed to lick the sauce from her fingers this time around...


End file.
